The irony of cross-migration

"Really? That many?" I remarked as Jepoy (not his real name), our tour guide, drove me and my family around Mactan Island during our Philippine summer vacation a few months ago.

"Yes, Attorney. It's like one Korean for every four Filipinos here in Mactan. Look at the store signs, some are even in Korean."

I looked around and saw several shops peppered with Korean language signs. I even noticed some Korean-looking individuals walking along the side of the road. A few were manning the stores.

"Well, that's not a bad thing, right?" I said. "They're generally peaceful and hardworking, anyway, plus they bring business to the area."

"Um, yes, Attorney. I think it all started when they allowed direct flights from Korea to Cebu and let foreigners retire in the Philippines."

Jepoy paused a bit as if carefully weighing his next words. "But you know, sometimes, people here can't help but feel that the island is being overrun by foreigners," he said ruefully. "Not that people here are anti-foreigner or anti-Korean, but it's more of an envy thing, I guess, because the Koreans have the money and own the businesses here. But, at least, people here are aware that the Korean government is friendly and not bullying our country, unlike China."

I nodded in sympathy but stayed silent, unsure of how to respond. In a way, I could understand what Jepoy was trying to say: The people of Mactan were happy that the island was booming, but at the same time, there was a certain amount of envy and self-pity.

Even before Jepoy's "revelation," my family and I already had an inkling that Mactan was becoming a favorite stomping ground of moneyed visitors from South Korea.

In the hotel where we stayed during our vacation (Shangri-La Mactan), we only encountered a handful of Filipino tourists. The bulk of the hotel occupants — about 90 percent — were from South Korea.

This was so unheard of during the nineties before I migrated to the US.

In a sense, it is a microcosm of what is happening in the country and globally. While Mactan or Cebu is fast becoming a favorite destination of the South Koreans, Uncle Sam's island state of Hawaii has long been a favorite place of refuge and recreational haven by the Japanese, dating back to the end of World War II.

Within the local context, people of Chinese descent have historically been a permanent staple in the rural towns and cities of the Philippines, long before Chinese POGO labor inundated the country.

Even the continental US is not immune to this type of global phenomenon. In fact, people of Hispanic origin are now forecasted to soon overtake African-Americans as the dominant minority population in the country.

Neither is Europe spared from the sweeping reality of cross-border migration. One can just look at the avalanche of refugees and boat migrants from Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean.

It is funny yet sad, though, that while Koreans love the Philippines — particularly Mactan and its surrounding areas — to the point that they want to make the island their permanent home, Filipinos continue to leave the country in droves to seek greener pastures in foreign lands, not only in the old US of A, but in Europe as well.

Indeed, who could have imagined that Milan, of all places, would be home to around 40,000 Filipinos, making them the largest immigrant population in a city with no known historical or socioeconomic ties to their native country?

If this global criss-crossing reality is not irony, I wonder what is.